To be worried about dd having the Cervical cancer jab after the fuss about it on here the other day

[Supervet]

DD is due to have it shortly in school.
I had not heard anything about it and presumed she would have it because cervical cancer is horrid.

Now I am really worried because there was lots of fuss over it the other day on here with many comments about serious side effects. I have now read it has been banned in Japan and there are worries elsewhere.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of accurate none scare mongering information or does anyone have any medical experience in relation to this?

Thank you drbadbride that is exactly what I was looking for. My Mum is a medical practitioner so I will plough through it with her.

I'm not pro or con at the moment I just want to be fully informed before allowing dd to make that decision.

I did masses of reading before the MMR and decided that despite the high autism in my family I would rather deal with autism rather than the horrendous effects of measles. Obviously the link has been disproved, dd now does have sn but I could see signs before the vaccine and suspect the mmr is just at a time signs start becoming more obvious.

Although this may solve itself as dd has sn and has her flu jab and refused it last time because of the needle despite never bothering before and the nurse wouldn't continue and told us to try another day. I was a bit bothered about this as I knew it would make it into a bigger occur but I understand why the nurse couldn't continue.

No worries, Supervet, hope the info is useful and best of luck with your decision. Just to be clear--I'm not a medical dr (PhD in genetics), was formerly known on here just as plain old badbride until I lost my login details and had to re-register with a modified username...

CFS seems to be the 'side-effect' of choice for anti-vaxxers. Anyone with a bit more time than me (just getting in the shower to go out) able to find prevelance rates for before and after the jab was introduced? Not a definite argument though as it will obviously be diagnosed more as awareness grows, but might give an idea?

DD2 was diagnosed with PoTS with symptoms which became obvious around the time of her third jab. Interestingly she was super fit at the time (competing regionally in her sport, training three times a week).

But, although we didn't realise, she'd been having milder symptoms for years before, so I'm fairly sure that at worst, all the vaccine could have done is triggered a more extreme set of symptoms.

Both DD1 and DD3 have had the jab, DD1 was probably as fit as DD2 when she had hers, and there's been no noticeable change in symptoms with either of them (they both have what we reckon is very mild PoTS, some symptoms but not enough to get a "proper" diagnosis).

I'm in a group of parents of girls with PoTS, and i think of the 100 or so members, there are only two or three of us where there seems to be maybe a timing connection.

I don't regret vaccinating any of the DDs, and more importantly DD2 would rather have had the HPV vaccine than not.

thanks myvision that's very helpful to hear your experience.

DD has had both of her jabs now. I've had three worrying smears in recent years, all HPV connected and most recently they had to take a biopsy of my cervix. That was fun!

I talked all this through with DD when she asked if I wanted her to have it. I said yes, I did, to save her going through what I've been through, but also advised her to read the literature she'd been given and see how she felt about it before I filled in the form. She pondered for a few days and decided to go ahead with it.

No side effects, other than slightly sore arms, for any of the girls at her school.

Scaremongering and lack of knowledge makes me so angry. This thread is evidence of that.

I have not allowed my dd to have it. That should have said!!

Have just been googling and seen that Rhode Island in the US has now mandated this vaccine for Year 7 students, as a requirement to access both state and private education. Not sure what that kind of compulsion does to the rather quaint notion of 'informed consent'...
I find this a rather frightening turn of events.

Many jabs are required to attend most govt schools in most US states, Angsty. University, too. I was deregistered from University because I didn't prove I had measles jab.

BTW, do people generally talk to their kids about how critical condoms are to the maintenance of sexual - and general - health? This may be TMI, but no bloke has been near me without wearing a condom unless they've had an sti screening. This includes my now DH. I've provided the same. I grew up in the age of Aids, in the shadow of the grim reaper (terrifying ad campaign here in Oz).
HIV, and many other sexually transmitted diseases are still extant. I hope schools/ health authorities are promoting condom use as heavily as HPV vaccination as a way to control this and other viruses.

What worries me most about the hpv vax policy/practice is that it doesn't even claim to vaccinate against all CC. So there is still a risk.

But I can imagine that those having the vax will be lulled into a false sense of security and think they are immune when they aren't therefore not going for smears or getting symptoms checked out because they falsely assume they aren't at risk.

Imo it's only a matter of time before a death occurs attributable to this misunderstanding.

What a lot of people don't know is that it is effective for approximately five years. So if your DD has it aged 12/13 when they aren't generally sexually active, by the time they are, aged 16/17, the vaccine (which only protects against two of the HPV strains) will not be effective.

Eek maths.....17/18 years old.

It's not even a vaccination fir CC is it?

It's a vaccination for some strains of a virus that if left untreated may or may not cause CC at some point.

willing to be corrected

Quite so, angstyaunty, I completely agree that teaching kids about sexual health (and indeed, teaching them about responsible sexual behaviour and relationships).

Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to test for HPV in men (see here ). Infection is extremely common (most sexually active people will have been exposed) and often asymptomatic. And condoms offer good, but incomplete protection from HPV infection.

correlation and causation are not the same thing. As pointed out, Jeremy Hunt made this 'schoolboy error' and he's in the sodding government.

no vaccine is risk free. Life is a terminal illness. The job is to decide which is the lowest risk to maximise the time before death.

the 'big pharma makes money' argument can safely be ignored as random noise. Funnily enough, the NHS do test things before giving them out. Who would have thought?

and yes, teach your daughters to use condoms ALWAYS when it is shagging time.

Giles that's correct. People are wrong if they think this vaccine protects against CC. And of those people who do contract HPV, the majority will clear the virus from their system like any other virus.

The fact sheets however, imply that once you've got HPV, you'll develop CC.

I am pro vaccination generally but this one being so new made me sit up and think long and hard about my daughters having it.

DD17 and DD14 both had it age 12. Both fine no side affects except for a rather sore (more than they get with their annual flu jabs) arm for a few days.

However, my 14yo DD had her booster MMR and MenC Polio and Dip done at our surgery here in March just after we moved house and fainted 3 times in the first hour after having them. She was also very white and shakey (as in physically trembling) for about 24 hours. I think it was the jabs but am open to the possibility she may have had a 24 hour bug.

CFS is often stated as the most likely side effect. My dd has CFS (has had it for years) and she got her HPV vac last year. There was not one iota of difference with her CFS after having the vaccine. She had no side effects whatsoever.

Verbena, while you are entitled to come to your own conclusions about the vaccine, you are wrong to say "people are wrong to say this vaccine protects against CC". It clearly does, and what is more, generates an immune response that lasts at least 9 years. And "9 years" is only because that's the length of the follow up that has been done so far, not because it magically stops after then. See the links in my earlier post.

There are many strains of HPV, two of which are responsible for causing at least 70% of cervical cancer cases. Of the 80 to 90 per cent of sexually active individuals who are infected (like I said, its very common), about half will be infected with a high-risk strain.

The vaccines are formulated to generate an immune response against these two (and in some vaccines, also two that cause genital warts). While many people will clear these infections, others will not, and it is these persistent infections that lead to CC.

There is no way of knowing if someone will be one of these unlucky ones. But there now an effective, safe way of greatly reducing the chances of it happening.

Having just been diagnosed with cervical cancer 3 weeks ago following a routine smear (absolutely no symptoms whatsoever) I am now having my lymph nodes removed and a hysterectomy. My dd (11) will be getting the injection when she's old enough. You wouldn't wish this on your worst enemy.

Is there any evidence that the vaccine works?

Seriously?

Of course there's evidence the vaccine works. Peer reviewed research, clinical trials...

You can't just go round injecting people with stuff if there's no evidence it works.

queenarnica

QueenArnica

I'm 18 months post treatment for CC. I had to have chemo, radiotherapy and brachytherapy which was horrendous. I am now facing a complete vaginal reconstruction because of damage caused by the radiotherapy. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. One of my DDs was due her jab while I was undergoing my treatment, she tried having a little moan about being scared of injections. I pointed out that I'd had11 injections that week and would be having the same every week for the next month. I also explained what happens during Brachytherapy which my consultant had declared was, in his opinion, "one of the most brutal medical procedures he had ever seen performed"

She had the jab